Harlan made his way to the cafeteria, dodging left and right, he could hardly believe how unoriginal they were to all use the exact same method.
When he arrived in the dining hall everyone was seated in that corner table he liked, he could see Tau was saying something to Adina and the others were paying attention to them.
He got his food. Chicken with some sweet and savory sauce served with rice. They had a substitute of roast squab for those of Ragne who refused to eat Reinoan cuisine for whatever reason.
The open spot at the table was between Amber and Adelwulf.
“I didn’t think you would be late for dinner. Tau and your friend Adina have been talking about her condition.”
“In what way?”
“The Theocracy doesn’t have a language for the blind. But the Confederacy does, some of the areas in the academy are marked with them.”
“Well. that is nice of him.”
Harlan ate his meal and listened in.
“I simply cannot fathom how any people can treat their addled in such a way.”
“Some are simply born wrong. So they are often… Prevented from passing such things on.”
“What of you? Would you be so cold had your situation been different?”
“I received a blessing from a priest, they said I should be allowed to live regardless of how I am. I am special.”
Tau was saddened to hear about such a custom. Yet he didn’t voice his opinion about why he thought she was allowed to live. It was generally considered pointless for those who knew to try and speak about the possibility of corruption in Reino.
“Harlan, have you thought on what I said last we met?”
“Adelwulf. I am sorry.”
“I will accept it, for now”
The rest of dinner was more small talk, he shared very little of what he read in the library.
Zella and Amber noticed his pauses as he skipped over details.
Tau wanted to have more tea and talk to Harlan, so the entire group ended up going together.
Everything was going well. Harlan was feeling better and he was dodging the people who bumped into him as they walked back to his room.
Then someone bumped into Zella, knocking her to the ground.
“Watch where you are walking.”
Harlan was disappointed, he was angry. But he was very disappointed. He was so close, 30 seconds and he would have the kettle on and he would be setting cookies on a plate. He wanted so badly to ignore it, but it wasn’t him who was bumped into, no matter how hard he tried in those short few seconds he couldn’t put that fire out.
“Duel.”
“I refuse.”
The boy turned his back and walked away.
Harlan knew he couldn’t force a duel. If they knocked into Amber it would be one thing, she was technically a noble under him now. But Zella was a friend, and while the bump was rude and she might be sore. It wasn’t an attack by most standards.
So he sighed, he walked to the boy, years older than him. And he threw a punch. Only for Tau to catch it.
“Violence is not the answer. Let it go, Zella is unharmed.”
He couldn’t get his arm free from Tau. So he stopped trying, but he burned his face into his mind, it was the boy from enchanting. If it was a reaction he wanted, he planned to give them one, but on his terms.
“Fine. Zella, are you ok?”
“I’m fine. And Tau is right. Just let it go.”
Harlan didn’t answer back. Instead he walked to his room and opened the door for everyone.
He had to bring over the dining table so everyone had a spot to sit at.
“Alright. Before anything else. Harlan you are NOT going to do anything to get revenge, right?”
“I’m not saying that.”
“Tell me right now that you aren’t.”
“Why? Clearly I am. You know it, Zella knows it. I’m sure Adina knows it and she barely knows me.”
“I think you should protect your friends.”
“Exactly. I’m not going to lie to you.”
“Harlan. I am sure it seems nice to just beat up all of your problems. But you can’t live that way forever.
You are getting older, it won’t be this year, it won’t be next year even. But at some point, you are going to be old enough that people will stop thinking about it as a temper tantrum from a child and you will just be considered a brute with anger issues.”
“So what? As long as I do what I am asked they won’t have legal grounds to do anything. If they go with anything that isn’t legal then I will be able to fight back. All I need to do is pick my fights right and I will be fine.”
“What about if they target mom or dad? What if I am on a mission in the army and someone else on my team feels that you wronged someone they know. You aren’t just fighting people, you are fighting people who know people. You need to understand the scope of this, you can’t break the nose of everyone who annoys you or pushes your buttons, or even the people who do those things to us. Life isn’t beating up the bad guy and a happy ending. It is mired in political bullshit and if you jump in there you just end up covered in it and no better than them. Tell me, right now, that you are not going to do anything.”
Harlan sat in silence for 30 seconds before he answered.
“Fine. I’m not going to go out of my way to fight him.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“I will miss my classes and lock you in my room.”
“I am not going to fight him. I will not respond to taunts from students.”
“Good. The water is hot, will you please put the tea in the pot?”
“Of course.”
It was a few minutes before the tension started to clear, it was helped by Harlan getting out the cookies again.
Tau grabbed them one at a time and ate slowly, Harlan thought it was a little odd how he didn’t dwell on anything that happened before but it did clear up the mood.
Harlan got out a plate so they could be set out in an easier to grab manner.
“These are good cookies.”
Adina seemed almost giddy to be given something by Harlan.
Everyone talked about things from their childhood, little facts they knew, things from their day, the things people spoke of while getting to know one another.
“So, the 2 of you went around today, did any lecture call to you?” Tau asked
“Funny enough I liked enchanting, I could probably find a way to mix it with soulsmithing if I really tried. Oh, and I am already in the class but I did like magical creatures quite a lot.”
“Really? Who is the teacher for your stay?”
“Sepul. Arch-”
“We know who he is.”
Bojana said.
Every beastkin seemed to have some angry thoughts on the man which they left unsaid.
“We should move past that. What about the class did you all enjoy?”
Tau, ever playing the peacemaker, decided to switch topics.
Harlan spoke of seeing the animals in both physical form and as the constructs. He decided to avoid talking about his whole transformation thing, so the others thought he was just really into biology.
Tau spoke of his childhood, he spent his days hunting the plains, delving into the depths of any caves he found, and being scolded harshly by his peers for his refusal to fight.
There was a faint sadness Harlan could feel.
“So you were always like this? A pacifist?”
“Much to the disdain of others, yes. I was orphaned, I do not know if it was Reino or if it was simply bandits, but I lost my family, and was taken in by another. I have seen so many who destroy themselves and others because they cannot move past what has been lost. I have argued with my brothers and sisters about this many times, but I do not wish to be moved to anger. Harlan… I do not wish to see you go down such a path. There is a time for violence, but it is never for harsh words or scraped elbows. I also know I could not live as I am without violence protecting me. I know you will choose violence, but you do not need to choose hate. Our lands border the desert, while it is far less common, we are part of the front. Or rather we were,
I am not ignorant of war or violence.”
“And you aren’t a front anymore because of a lot of killing, enough to force peace talks. If you could pull a lever and kill half of the people of Reino, without knowing who, but knowing that it would’ve stopped the war sooner, without Ragne losing forces. Would you?”
“Hmm…”
Tau sat in thought while the others spoke of lighter topics.
Like the skull Harlan kept on his desk. Everyone seemed to look at it now and then but no one wanted to be the first to ask what it was and where he got it from. After Harlan asked if anyone had a name for it everyone seemed to have fun thinking on the matter. 30 minutes passed but no one has a good name for the abomination. Deerbit was one he liked, but it was mostly a rabbit and not as much of a deer, so he considered it flawed. Antler Hare was good, but he wasn’t going to commit to a name. He wasn’t even sure if he should give it a species name, considering that he wasn’t sure it would be possible to make more of them quite yet, and if they would even turn out the same. Maybe it would become something closer to a deer than a rabbit.
“I was going to talk about some personal things. But it is getting late. I think I will put it off for another day.”
“Harlan. Are you sure… You could just talk about it with us, the rest can go to sleep.”
Amber was worried about letting whatever was bothering him go, she would rather he didn’t put it off.
“You are right. I’m kicking else everyone out. I don’t think I should be so… Open with everyone else that I barely know. Zella, I don’t want to force you, but if you want I’ll tell you too.”
“That isn’t fair. Why not? We’re friends, right?”
Adine was hurt at his words.
“I met you just today, and I do like you, but I don’t know you any more than most other people here. I’m not saying it to be mean, but it is the truth.“
Tau decided to try and phrase it better.
“Adina. Surely there are things which you would not yet reveal to him, do not be upset over something you yourself would do. You and him will be together 10 months of the year for the next 4 years. Bonds are formed with time, there is no need to rush them.”
“Before everyone leaves, Bojana, would you get Av- Adina to her room safely? It seems some of her people don’t like her here.”
She snorted but he knew she would do it.
Harlan said his goodbyes to everyone and double checked the privacy wards in the room. He didn’t actually know enough about wards to even make a judgment on them being good or bad, so he tossed up a privacy veil, just in case.
“So… What has been bothering you?”
“I mean, we don’t want to push you to say anythi-”
Harlan grabbed their hands and explained everything from his point of view. From his meetings with The Mother, what he wanted to do to Jet, his feelings of betrayal when Balor wanted to stay, the field of bones near the farm, his fight with Gilly, the things he read in the library and his worries that his mother’s spirit was bonded to him as a banshee, how he felt Adina was really desperate for friends and how it was itching some protective instincts in him, the talk with Kass all those years back and more recently, things he never talked about before that happened in the facility like the riot, the gods of Reino being Fae, his worries about Rosewell, his meeting with the king before he was released. He released everything that bothered him and didn’t give them the chance to ask questions.
“Alright. I think that is all of it.”
“I… I need to think about all of that for a minute.”
Zella thought that Harlan was open with her before, some of the things didn’t bother her at all, but the field of bones was creepy. She liked to think that he was still fairly normal, minus everything that happened, but she hadn’t realized just how short of a fuse he was working with.
Amber had a different reaction. She simply hugged him and cried.
“You should’ve told us, but I’m not blaming you.
“I didn’t want to overload everyone all at once. I have my issues, you have yours. I talked about some of this with mom and dad, and it did make me feel better.”
“You aren’t burdening us. I can only start to try and work through everything, but it isn’t your fault. You are still a kid, and you are reacting to a lot of things that you don’t really understand. Between nobles who are just awful people to a god trying to pull you into some destiny she wants, I think it would be crazier if you weren’t effected by any of it. But you aren’t a bad person, you’ve been put in bad places. You try to be nice to people, you are just not ready for everything that is being pushed on you and you have so much more power than a normal person. If you really tried to hurt someone most grown adults wouldn’t be close to you unless they were soldiers, you have already done so well at not hurting people, please just keep at it. If you want, I am sure Tau would like to talk about some of these things with you. I am not going to tell him anything, but he always seems to know what to say when dealing with the world, he is better at it than me at least.”
“Yeah, I might just do that. Thanks.”
Harlan returned her hug, Zella didn’t really have anything to add, she thought about dumping her own problems out to them, but she still couldn’t bring herself to do it.
He didn’t know exactly how long it took, from his explanations to them just sitting their comforting each other. But it was late when they got out, they wouldn’t be getting their 8 hours at least, but neither really minded that much.
“Oh, before I forget, you should really talk to people about that whole… Banshee thing. I never really talked with him but since Sepul wrote a book on it, you should talk to him about it. I know you probably don’t trust anyone here, but they are good people. You don’t need to try and solve everything on your own.”
“I’ll… I’ll think about it.”
Harlan waved them goodbye, he felt burned out on hugs.
Overnight he simply tried and tried with telekinesis, finding that he was having more luck with it now after letting everything out.
Though it still amounted to being worse than Balor was after just a day.
Lugh hummed a melody that Ava taught him, which helped Harlan to calm down a lot.